


We All Care in Different Ways

by Guilty_Pleasuress



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Crying TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Cussing, Gen, Hurt TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Hurt/Comfort, I'm sure Austin is a lovely guy but for now he's the villain, Inspired by alarm by qar, It's Minx what did you expect?, Protective Minx, Protective Wilbur Soot, Protectiveness, shippers fuck off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 11:00:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30003864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guilty_Pleasuress/pseuds/Guilty_Pleasuress
Summary: Minx doesn't care about Tommy; shedoesn't.That is, until she does.
Relationships: Minx | JustAMinx & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Minx | JustAMinx & Wilbur Soot, No Romantic Relationship(s), Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Comments: 32
Kudos: 476





	We All Care in Different Ways

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [alarm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28576200) by [qar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/qar/pseuds/qar). 



> This work is _heavily_ inspired by alarm by qar... as in like it's the same set up and same result just in my words (and plus. little more at the end.) I just really needed Minx tearing Austin a new one, okay? So if you haven't read alarm definitely go do that and show the author some love, they deserve it!  
> I'm considering writing more in the universe as Tommy forces more people to fall in love with him, so keep an eye out for that.  
> Anyway, enjoy! Leave comment if you have any ideas for future fics that you'd like to see :)

Tommyinnit had a way of forcing people to care about him. What had started with Wilbur growing attached to the kid had quickly spread to the majority of the core group of the MCYT community adopting him in one way or another — be it as a son, brother, or distant cousin you barely talked to but would stab a bitch for. Fundy was the latest to fall to his charms, and was currently at cousin level of infatuation.  


Minx, however, was holding out.  


She wasn’t the type to get attached. She had let herself fall for Niki and — though she wouldn’t admit even on threat of tourture — Wilbur and Schlatt had worked their ways into her heart as well. That was already three more people than Minx was comfortable allowing into her life, she didn’t need the child tagging along. So he stayed her sort-of-friend’s annoying younger brother that she _tolerated_ for the sake of his feelings.  


She ignored the fact that she never cared about an acquaintance's feelings before. She refused to acknowledge that her trying to protect his feelings meant she had already fallen to the unstoppable force that was Tommyinnit. And if she ever caught herself caring she’d just chalk it up to being an older sister.  


*****

It was just after Karl’s Love or Host. All the contestants and most of the guests had all piled back into the call and Minx felt a little out of her depth. The sheer number of smart, beautiful, and driven women on the call with her was intimidating, and though she was used to these post stream calls she was also used to having a few fri- _acquaintances_ there with her; this time she didn’t know most of that week's contestants.  


Minx was in the middle of a conversation with QT — someone she would willingly call a friend if only for the fact that the other woman was so badass — along with a few other women she couldn’t name off the top of her head. There were a lot of other conversations going on, voices continuously growing louder to speak over each other, the only reason Minx was even able to keep track of QT’s voice was due to the practice she’d had since the pandemic started; the majority of streamers had become pros at tuning out extra voices in VCs in the months they’d been quarantined to their homes.  


Tommy’s voice was there, she registered him in the back of her mind, subconsciously keeping tabs on him as if he were _her_ responsibility. She tried to tune him out, telling herself Karl could handle him for the night, Tommy had been on the call for him, after all. If he failed, Austin seemed to be on pretty good terms with the boy, considering how many times he’d been invited as a guest. There were plenty of other people on the call that could keep an ear out for Tommy, she could relax.  


And she forced herself to do just that; until she realized that she _hadn’t_ been tuning Tommy out, the boy had just not been speaking. A feeling of wrongness shifted in her gut, something was off. Minx furrowed her eyebrows, scanning over the list of people on the call. Sure enough, Tommy’s name was still there; he wasn’t muted or deafened, he was active, he was just… Silent. Tommyinnit was never silent, he wasn’t supposed to be. Minx listened carefully for the boy, forcing all the other voices away from consciousness. She desperately needed him to speak.  


When he did, Minx regretted ever wishing that he would.  


“Ah, uh…” Tommy’s voice was unsure and barely audible over the din of conversation continuing around him. He laughed awkwardly, it was so obviously fake that Minx’s stomach turned, nausea and confusion wrecking her body. Tommy’s laugh was supposed to be boisterous and carefree, not whatever that had been. “Um, sorry Austin, didn’t mean to… Whatever…”  


Minx tilted her head, listening for Austin. The man was in a conversation with someone else and paying no mind to Tommy. Why was Tommy apologizing? Why did he sound so sad and awkward? Why was no one paying him any attention at all? All these questions ran through her mind so fast that Minx couldn’t even pick one to come up with an answer for.  


“Anyway, gotta go, Motherinnit is pestering me. Bye.” No one responded. In fact, nobody even acknowledged that the kid was even present until the sound of someone leaving the call rang through Minx’s headphones.  


“Wait, did someone just leave?” One of the women asked, Minx was too distracted by the anger steadily spreading through her body to place which one. Austin hummed and there was a pause.  


“Eh, it was just Tommy. Anyway-” Austin’s voice was cut out by a rushing in Minx’s ears. _‘Just Tommy’?_ How fucking dare he. No one left a call without announcing it first, especially not Tommyinnit. Was it not obvious something was wrong? Or was Minx the only one who cared- _noticed._ She didn’t _care._  


Except…  


Except, Tommy was just a kid. He was just a kid and something was obviously wrong and none of his people were there. None of them knew what had just happened and Minx knew Tommy well enough to know he was too stubborn to tell someone if he was hurting. And Minx was _sure_ he was hurting and- _fuck._  


And Minx _cared._  


“Goddamnit.” She growled as she left the call. She didn’t say goodbye, she had a feeling she’d be back later to share her… displeasure anyway.  


*****

Minx wasn’t a stranger to emotion, but she did try to avoid it at all costs, and in this situation she had no clue what she was doing. She’d comforted her sister before, of course she had; one time the girl had even come home from school crying because someone told her they didn’t want to be her friend. She’d held her baby sister and told her that it was their loss, that she was amazing. Minx couldn’t exactly do that with Tommy, but she could try to reassure him.  


The biggest problem was that Minx didn’t know exactly what had happened, all she’d seen was the result — one sad Tommy and Austin being an absolute dickwad.  


Her hand tightened on her mouse as she thought about Austin, anger overtaking the worry coating her mind once again, but she forced herself to release it as she hovered over Tommy’s Discord icon. He was on do not disturb, but still seemingly online. Minx took a deep breath, hitting the call button, and pushing Austin as far from her mind as possible for the time being. She could handle him later, for now, Tommy was priority.  


The call rang through, Minx growing more and more worried at the seconds ticked by. She’d never called Tommy directly before, but he seemed like the type to answer on the first ring. Maybe his mom really did need his attention? Maybe he was busy or AFK or-  
__

_Call Denied.  
_

Or ignoring Minx like the little fucker he was.  


Minx sighed and shook her head. At least he was there, now she just needed him to pick up.  
__

_JustaMinx: Pick up, child.  
_

_Tommyinnit: No. Go away.  
_

Minx rolled her eyes. He should have just pretended to not be there instead of answering right away, maybe then she would have given up. Well… She wouldn't have, but the chance would have been higher.  
__

_JustaMinx: Pick up or I’ll tell Wilbur you were disrespectful to the women on stream.  
_

_Tommyinnit: Fuck off i wasnt.  
_

_JustaMinx: That doesn’t stop the lecture from coming.  
_

Minx watched her screen for a minute, waiting for a reply. She smiled when her phone started buzzing.  
__

_Incoming call from Tommyinnit.  
_

She answered it quickly.  


“Pussy.” She said in way of greeting. She could almost feel Tommy’s glare through the phone.  


“What do you want.” Tommy demanded, but his voice sounded raw and unthreatening. Minx was immediately set on edge. She’d cried enough times to know what it sounded like when your words were tear drenched.  


“I wanted to make sure you’re okay,” She stated, her voice softer now than it had been.  


Tommy was obviously a boy who experienced every emotion to the extreme; Minx had known him when he was happy, his laughter and chatter always filling up a stream or VC; she’d known him when he was angry and telling his chat off for mocking Tubbo or Phil, he was intimidating with that serious look on his face, though she’d never admit to being afraid of a child. Now, she knew him when he was sad, she could hear it in the way it coated his words, making them come slow and dragging; she could hear in in the scratch in his voice and the catch of his breath that made it obvious he’d been crying; she could hear it in the lack of his usual chaotic energy and excited stuttering.  


And it broke her heart.  


Tommy sniffled on the other end of the call and Minx wondered if he had even stopped crying yet or if his tears were still falling. She wished she could give him a hug.  


“Why do you want to know?” Tommy asked, a bit of bite returning to his voice as he grew defensive. Minx paused for a moment, wondering if she was going to have to reveal that she cared about the boy. This, apparently, was not the right thing to do. Tommy huffed. “I don’t really feel up to being mocked right now, Minx, so I’m just gonna go.”  


“No, Tommy, wait,” Minx pleaded, reaching for her mouse as if she could stop him from leaving. She couldn’t, or course, but the call didn’t end.  


“What?”  


“I want to know because you sounded sad when you left and... I was worried.” Tommy snorted in disbelief.  


“What, like you _care_ about me?” He asked, his words sharp, but their self-deprecating tone dulled their edge. Minx furrowed her eyebrows; did Tommy really think she didn’t care? But, of course he did when Minx had never given him any reason to believe otherwise.  


“Yeah, Tommy, I care about you.”  


There was silence on the other end of the call. Minx thought more than once that Tommy had hung up but each time she checked he was still there, unmuted. Then, there was a sob, and the broken pieces of Minx’s heart only shattered further.  


She was going to _kill_ Austin.  


“Tommy?” Minx asked, unsure of how to continue. She quickly pulled up her chat with Wilbur, typing out a message. “Uh… Tommy, can you take a deep breath or something? Tell me what happened?”  
__

_JustaMinx: Code Black, Tommy is crying I don’t know what to do  
_

_JustaMinx: Answer me, fucker.  
_

The crying was still coming through her headphones and Minx was starting to consider this one of the worst experiences of her life.  


“Tommy, come on, you gotta breathe,” She encouraged, refreshing her phone to see a read receipt pop up.  
__

_Wilbur Soot: What the fuck did you say to him???  
_

_Wilbur Soot: Minx, I swear to god if you fucking made him cry  
_

_Wilbur Soot: Are you in a VC?  
_

Minx sighed. She still had Tommy crying in her ears, she did _not_ need Wilbur threatening her via text on top of that.  
__

_JustaMinx: Fuck off, Wilbur, I didn’t make him cry  
_

_JustaMinx: I’m trying to help him you cunt  
_

_JustaMinx: No we’re on call  
_

_Wilbur Soot: Add me now  
_

The a second later:  
__

_Wilbur Soot: Please.  
_

“Tommy, Wil wants to join. Is that okay?” Minx asked, hoping the boy could hear her over his own sobs. She heard his breath stutter, coming out ragged.  


“Yeah,” He nearly choked on the work as another sob wrecked through him. “Tha-thanks.” Minx clicked her tongue, and searched for Wilbur’s contact to add to the call.  


“Don’t worry about it, Tommy. Just focus on breathing, okay?”  


“O-okay.” Tommy stuttered just as another voice joined the call.  


“Tommy?” Wilbur asked frantically, he sounded worried. “Toms, bud, what happened?”  


“Wilby?” Minx would have awd or teased him if the boy didn’t sound so broken.  


“Yeah, bud, it’s me. Can you take a deep breath for me?”  


Minx sat back in her chair, listening as Wilbur calmed his little brother down. Tommy took an exaggerated breath, coughing slightly when he tried to breathe too deeply.  


“That’s it, love, take it slow.”  


Eventually Tommy’s sobs had subsided and his breathing grew calmer, though it was still stunted. Minx decided to let Wilbur take the lead on where to go next, she still felt completely out of her depth.  


“Wanna tell us what happened, Toms?” Wilbur asked, his voice soft, his words in now way pressuring. Tommy sniffled.  


“It’s stupid.” Tommy muttered self-consciously. Minx felt the anger that had long been on the back burner start to boil once again; not only had someone made Tommy cry but now he was questioning himself and devaluing his own feelings. She couldn’t let that stand.  


“It’s can’t be stupid if it hurt you that much,” Minx spoke up for the first time in awhile. “Your feelings are valid and I wont have you thinking otherwise.” She heard Wilbur let out a surprised laugh at her words, seemingly in disbelief. She ignored him.  


This was going to ruin her reputation, wasn’t it…  


“I just…” Tommy sighed and hiccuped. He still sounded slightly hysterical. “Okay. I tried, I really did, but I-I couldn’t do it… Austin made me promise and I couldn’t do it and-” His words grew frantic as Wilbur interrupted.  


“What did he make you promise?” He asked, and by his tone alone Minx could tell he was shifting into protective older brother mode again. Damn, Austin was in for one hell of a night.  


“To not be annoying. He said if I wanted to be on the show I couldn’t be an obnoxious little kid… And I tried, but I kept forgetting, ‘nd after the show in the call he kept telling me to shut up. And it shouldn’t’ve hurt because people do it all the time but it _did_ because I was trying so hard but I was still just the stupid kid and-”  


“Tommy, stop right there.” Minx interrupted, having heard enough. “It was cruel of him to force you to make a promise he knew you couldn’t keep,” Minx realized her misstep just as Tommy made a sound like a wounded animal, and she could almost _feel_ Wilbur gearing up to step in. “Wait, wait, let me finish, kid. Of fucking course you’re annoying, it’s litterally your whole thing. It’s why you’re popular and why everyone falls in love with you — _everyone_ is annoying, Tommy, we’ve just all learned how to hide it. You don’t. Everyone’s just living vicariously through you.” Minx was 90% sure that not a word of what she had just said had made sense, but she had never been one for pep talks.  


“So…” Tommy spoke, obviously still trying to untangle her rant. “What you’re saying is that I’m annoying and that’s okay? Because it makes people like me?” Minx huffed.  


“Yeah, I guess.” She rested her forehead in her palm, propping up her head. “I’m also saying that Austin is a massive fucking dick and if I were in America right now I’d drive to his house just to break a chair over his head. As it is, I think I’m going to go scream at him for being mean to the great Tommyinnit.”  


The threat startled a laugh out of Tommy and it was nice to head after so much crying, even if it wasn’t the boisterous squealing that was the boy’s normal laugh.  


“I think she’s serious, Tommy,” Wilbur said, a smile evident in his voice. Tommy’s laughter stopped.  


“No, no, wait, he didn’t mean to-”  


“Doesn’t matter, I’m doing it anyway.” Minx interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest.  


“As you should.” Wilbur agreed. “But don’t go too far, _I_ want to be the one to drive him to tears.”  


“Wait, guys-”  


“Bye, Tommy!” Minx called, leaving the call, safe in the knowledge that Tommy would be fine now that he had Wilbur.  


*****

Minx smiled devilishly when she saw the Love or Host call was still active. Good. She wanted an audience. She rejoined.  


“Alright, ya cunt,” She said immediately upon joining. Conversations halted, attention turning to her. “Where the _fuck_ do you get off bullying a sixteen year old _child.”_ The call was silent for a moment, then Austin cleared his throat.  


“Minx, maybe this isn’t the right time-” He tried, but Minx wasn’t having it.  


“Shut up and take your mouse off of that goddamn kick button. I swear to god, Austin, if you kick me I’ll take this to twitter instead and you’ll have literally millions of people coming for you.” She paused, “No promises that I won't still if you keep talking outta your arse. Get it?” Silence. “Answer me.”  


“Yeah, whatever.” Austin muttered and Minx felt her anger boil over hearing the complete lack of care in his voice.  


“Alright, then I’ll ask you again: where the fuck do you get off telling a sixteen year old that he’s annoying and needs to shut up.” Minx could tell that Austin was apprehensive to answer the question, which was fair, it wasn’t really a real question after all. “Actually, better yet, is it the idea that you’re mentally abusing a child that gets you there? Does it make you feel like you’re in control again?”  


“I don’t know how you want me to answer that,” The fucker wasn’t even denying that he’d messed with Tommy. Minx couldn’t decide if that made it better or worse. He had balls, though, Minx would give him that.  


“I didn’t tell you to speak.” She bit. She grabbed her microphone, pulling it closer to herself, hand resting on the stand, and flicked her camera back on. She stared down the lens, glaring for all she was worth.  


“You know what I think it is, Austin?” Minx smiled again, but it was anything but sweet. _“I think_ that it hurts your wittle feelings a bit watching that viewer count rise each time Tommy is on call, only for it to drop again as soon as he’s gone. Does it make you sad that you can’t retain your viewership? Or is it the fact that a literal child has more viewers following him when he’s not even _streaming_ then you could ever hope for?  


“You’re used to being cucked by your contestants, but it stings a little bit more when it’s a child ratio-ing you, doesn’t it?” She relaxed in her chair, leaning against the backrest, pulling her microphone with her, and waited for an answer.  


“Look, I still don’t know what you want me to say.” Austin said and Minx sighed in disappointment. He wasn’t putting up much of a fight; it was a little boring.  


“He didn’t even know you were using him for views, you cunt. And even if he did he’d still fucking be there for you because that’s just who is. He takes care of people he considers his friends. Fortunately for you, you’re one of those people and you took advantage of that.  


“So what I want you to do now is draft an apology tweet — it doesn’t have to be anything specific, don’t worry, the world doesn’t need to know how much of a jackass you are yet — and I want you to send it to _me,_ and _I’ll_ tell you if it’s good enough.”  


“Minx, are you fucking kidding me?” Austin asked, astonished. Minx nearly cackled.  


“Trust me, buddy, that’s nothing. You know who just helped me calm down the _child_ you _mocked?”_ She paused for effect. A smile curled on her lips. “Well, actually I’m sure you can guess; it’s not exactly a surprise that big brother Wil came to save the day. I _would_ be surprised, though, if you didn’t have him, along with half the Dream SMP, calling you soon.  


“Buckle up, I’d say you’re in for a rough night.” She finished. 

Minx glared at the camera one last time and left the call. Maybe her reputation wouldn’t be ruined after all.  


**Author's Note:**

> Leave comment if you have any ideas for future fics that you'd like to see :)


End file.
